Weighing apparatus.



No. 746,201. PATENTED DEC. 8, 1 903. E. G. THOMAS.

WEIGHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

M1521, asses kfnveflfir;

UNITED STATES Patented December 8, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD G. THOMAS, OF WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO AUTO- MATICWEIGHING MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPO- RATION OF NEWYORK.

WEIGHING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent N 0. 746,201, dated December8, 1903.

Application filed April 1, 1903, Serial No. 150,515. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of VValtham, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in WeighingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is intended to provide a simzo ple and effectivearrangement by means of which the accuracy of any given operation of aweighing apparatus may be readily tested, and is designed moreparticularly for use in connection with automatic weighing-machines oflarge size or where the successive loads are so heavy that it would beimpossible or inconvenient to remove in the ordinary manner a receptaclewith its contained load or charge or to shift the load into a specialreceptacle or weighing-bucket for the purpose of reweighing it. To thisend I provide, in connection with a weighing apparatus of any suitabletype, a supplementary weighing apparatus normally disconnected from themain apparatus and means for shifting the weight of the weighing bucketor receptacle and its contents from the latter apparatus to the former,whereupon said bucket and contents are weighed by a hand weighingoperation and then shifted back again.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which thefigure is a perspective view of a scale-beam and a weighingbucketcarried thereby with my improvements applied thereto.

The apparatus shown in the drawing comprisesa main scale-beam 2,aweighing-bucket 3, normally carried thereby,weighing-weights 4 and 5,and a supply-chute 6. In case the bucket 3 forms part of an automaticweighing-machine it is to be assumed that the flow of material throughthe chute 6 to said bucket is controlled by a suitable valve orequivalent device, such avalve and its operating means not being shownand described herein, for the reason that my invention may be applied tomany dilferent types of automatic weighing apparatus, and the details ofthe construction of the latter are therefore not material.

Means are provided whereby the discharge of a load from the bucket 3 maybe prevented or temporarily arrested whenever it is desired to reweighthe load, and inasmuch as it is customary in automatic weighing-machinesto cause the supply controlling valve to be opened by the rising of thebucket after it has discharged a load the provision of means forpreventing the discharge of a load from the bucket will in such casesuffice to control the operation of the apparatus to the desired extent,since the valve cannot open until the bucket rises and the bucket cannotrise until it has discharged its load. In the apparatus shown in thedrawing the weighing-bucket 3 is provided at its bottom with closers 77, each hinged to one side of the bucket and provided with acounterweight S, the closers being connected to operate in unison bymeans, such as a link 9, pivoted at its ends to arms 10 10, movable withthe closers, respectively. One of the closers is also provided with anarm 11, adapted to be engaged by a shoulder 12, formed on a latch 13,which is pivoted to one side of the bucket. A suitable stop, such as apivoted arm 14, is secured to some convenient fixed point and is soarranged thatit may be set in position to be engaged by the free end ofthe latch 13 when the bucket descends, and thus trip the latch andpermit the discharge of the load from the bucket. By turning the stop 14on its pivot, however, it may be rendered temporarilyinoperative, asshown in the drawing, and in this case when the bucket 3 receives a fullload and descends the latch 13 will not be tripped. The bucket willtherefore retain its load until said latch is purposely tripped, duringwhich time the operation of the automatic weighing apparatus will ofcourse cease.

In connection with the main weighing ap- 9o paratus above referred to Iprovide a supplementary weighing apparatus, herein shown as composed ofa scale-beam 15, provided at one end with knife-edges 16, adapted tosupport bearings 17, secured to the bucket 3, but normally located belowsaid bearings, said scalebeam 15 being connected at its other end, as bya link 18, to a hand weighing-scale of any suitable construction, hereinshown as a scale of the well-known Fairbanks type, compris- 10o ingfulcrumed levers 19 and 20, a connectinglink 21, and weighing-weights 22and 23. In order to provide for the connecting and disconnecting of theauxiliary beam 15 and the weighing-bucket 3, I prefer to support theknife'edges 24, on which said beam poises, on movable fulcrum -blocks25, which may be raised and lowered and thereby caused to move theknife-edges 16 into and out of engagement with the blocks 17. To thisend the fulcru m-blocks 25 may be supported on a forked lever 26,pivoted to fixed supports 27, and connected by a link 28 to a suitablepressure-multiplying lever 29, one end of which serves as anoperating-handle 30 and is supported in its extreme positions by meansof catches 31 and 32. As thus constructed when it is desired to test theaccuracy of a weighing operation the stop 14 is turned into the positionshown in the drawing to prevent the discharge of the load to be tested,and after the said load has been delivered to the weighing-bucket andthe latter has descended the handle 30 is forced upward, thereby liftingthe fulcrum-blocks 25 and beam 15 and cansing the knife-edges 16 toengage the blocks 17 and lift the bucket- 3 off the knife-edges 33 onthe scale-beam 2, which normally support it. This operation results inthrowing the weight of the bucket and its contents onto the auxiliarybeam 15, which weight is then determined by a hand weighing operationperformed on the scale-beam 20 in the usual manner. It will be foundconvenient to employ a permanent weight 22 just sufficient to balancethe bucket 3 when empty, so that the net weight of the load may be foundat once by means of the weight 23. After the hand weighing operation hasbeen performed the handle 30 is lowered, thereby lowering the bucket 3onto the knife-edges 33, the downward movement of the fulcrum-blocks 25being continued until the knife-edges 16 are wholly disconnected fromand out of contact with the blocks 17. The bottom of the weighing-bucketis then unlatched and permitted to discharge the load just weighed, andthe operation of the main weighing apparatus thereupon proceeds in theusual manner.

I do not considermyinvention to be limited to any particular type orconstruction of weighing apparatus, since so far as I am aware I am thefirst to combine a main weighing apparatus, a supplementary weighingapparatus, and means for shifting the weight of the weighing bucket orreceptacle and its load from the former to the latter and back again insuch manner that the weight of said load may be determined independentlyof the main weighing apparatus.

1 claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a main weighingapparatus, a weighing-receptacle normally carried thereby,and means forcontrolling the discharge of material from said receptacle, of asupplementary weighing apparatus and means for transferring the weightof the weighing-receptacle and its contents from the main weighingapparatus to the supplementary weighing apparatus and back again, forthe purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a primary scalebeam and a weighing-receptaclecarried there by, of a supplementary scale-beam normally disconnectedfrom the weighing-receptacle, and means for transferring the weight ofsaid receptacle and its contents from the primary scale-beam to thesupplementary scale-beam and back again, for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination with a primary scalebeam, a weighing-receptaclecarried thereby and provided with closers, a latch for said closers, andmeans for controlling said latch, of a supplementary scale-beam,weight-determining means connected thereto, and means for transferringthe weight of said receptacle and its contents from the primaryscale-beam to the supplementary scale-beam and back again.

4. The combination with a primary scalebeam, a weighing-receptaclecarried thereby, and means for controlling the discharge of materialfrom the receptacle, of a pivoted lever carrying bearing-blocks, asupplementary scale-beam supported on said bearing-blocks and providedwith knife-edges adapted to engage bearing-blocks carried by saidreceptacle, means for performing a weighing operation on saidsupplementary scale-beam, and means for operating said lever to shiftthe weight of the weighing-receptacle and its contents from the mainscale-beam to the supplementary scale-beam and back again, for thepurpose set forth.

5. The combination with a main scale-beam, aweighing-receptaclesupportedthereon,supplementary bearing-blocks carried by said receptacle, andmeans for controlling the discharge of material from said receptacle,ofa pivoted lever carrying bearing-blocks, a supplementary scale-beammounted to poise on said bearing-blocks and provided with knifeedgesadapted to be engaged with and disengaged from the supplementarybearing-blocks carried by the weighing-receptacle, a weighing-beam 20provided with weighing-weights, connections between the same and thesupplementary scale-beam, and means for temporarily locking said pivotedlever in position to render the supplementary scale-beam operative.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 27th day ofMarch, 1903.

EDWARD G. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

E. D. OHADWIOK, J OSEPI-I T. BRENNAN.

IIO

